The movie “The Matrix,” directed by Lawrence and Andrew Wachowski is a philosophical period piece still relevant since it’s release in 1999. It is a movie based on their depiction of our industrious and rapidly evolving age, with the intentions of breaking down the audiences general perception of the present world and its direct result on us generally as well as individually, by cramming as many philosophical connotations as they could in the entire series and time lining them into 3, 2 hour movies that took the Wachowski brothers 10 years to create. The Wachowski brothers have a very collected and firm theory that they express in their films. Their theory, in it’s most fundamental form is: reality is unimaginably nowhere close to what you think it is, and you do not have as much control over your life as you may believe you do. The Wachowski brothers made that point very clear in “The Matrix” by using the ageless art of storytelling with the most modern technology of the time to illustrate some of histories best and most relevant philosophies, expressing their own understandings of these philosophies and how they apply to us today. Real World
In the scene after Neo recovers from waking up in the real world, Morpheus and Neo travel to the loading program where Morpheus goes into further detail about the matrix. He sets Neo up to be able to grasp foreign concepts that he otherwise might not have been able to understand by asking “what is real?” This is a question that has been asked by many philosophers, particularly whose subject of interest was metaphysics. Included in that is Immanuel Kant, a German born philosopher from the 18th century. Kant came to the conclusion that no one really knows what reality is in and of itself because the structures of the mind creates what you see based on what has already been. Jean Baudrillard, a French philosopher from the 20th century takes that theory a step further to say that reality, if there was ever one, has disappeared. In fact, when Morpheus shows Neo what the real world looks like, he calls it “the desert of the real.” That is a reference to Baudrillard’s “Simulacra and Simulations” where he states “The territory no longer precedes the map, nor survives it. Henceforth, it is the map that precedes the territory - precession of simulacra - it is the map that engenders the territory and if we were to revive the fable today, it would be the territory whose shreds are slowly rotting across the map. It is the real, and not the map, whose vestiges subsist here and there, in the deserts which are no longer those of the Empire, but our own. The desert of the real itself.” He goes on to write “Perhaps only the allegory of the Empire remains. For it is with the same imperialism that present-day simulators try to make the real, all the real, coincide with their simulation models”. Which is a strong basis throughout “The Matrix”. Red Dress
In “the woman in the red dress” scene, they are in a simulation program where Morpheus explains to Neo that it’s not only the system who is the evil, but the people who are inside the system are enemies as a direct result of the comfortable system put in place for them. Karl Marx, a German philosopher from the 19th century strongly believed that there were systems put in place to keep lower classes quiet, humble and content. He’s expressed this by saying things such as “Religion is the opium of people” and “The death of dogma is the birth of reality.” A philosopher in his own right, Julius Caeser has been quoted stating “Beware the leader who bangs the drums of war in order to whip the citizenry into a patriotic fervor, for patriotism is indeed a double-edged sword. It both emboldens the blood, just as it narrows the mind. And when the drums of war have reached a fever pitch and the blood boils with hate and the mind has closed, the leader will have no need in seizing the rights of the citizenry. Rather, the citizenry, infused with fear and blinded by patriotism, will offer up all of their rights unto the leader and gladly so. How do I know? For this is what I have done. And I am Caesar.” The philosophy relating to both the scene from The Matrix and Caeser’s quote is that humans gain a sense of comfortability when coddled in the bosom of their government who offers protection, security and direction. When you are handed these things, just as a father has a responsibility to provide his family these things, you would not only be obligated to offer your love or allegiance, but you would willingly fight against anything contrary to what your overseer has instilled into you because it is your protector, your stability, your reality. Russian writer of War and Peace Leo Tolstoy has said “The time is fast approaching when to call a man a patriot will be the deepest insult you can offer him. Patriotism now means advocating plunder in the interest of the privileged classes of the particular State system in which we have happened to be born."
Benjamin Franklin, a philosopher among other things and a great contributor to the creation of America had much to say on the subject of control by comfort. “They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither safety nor liberty”. Quotes like these from years before our own exemplify that the Wachowski brothers followed in the path of free thinkers throughout history, learning from them, and modernizing it for a recent audience to grasp.
The Matrix was not the first work of art to portray reality and the consciousness of mind as two separate entities. Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave” is a metaphor for the contrast of realities just as The Matrix is. “Allegory of the Cave” asks the question, if an individual were chained to a certain way of life based on previous pretenses, and were suddenly unchained to be exposed to real truth, would that individual run towards the light seeking further enlightenment no matter how hard the truth hurts? Or would he/she run back into the darkness as it’s been all he/she knows up to that point? “Following the white rabbit” and “falling down the rabbit hole” are both references from Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland used in The Matrix exemplifying similar notions. Both Neo and Alice followed the metaphorical white rabbit to fall down the rabbit hole of wisdom and chaos. Both Neo and Alice were faced with dangers when fighting against the order and control of their respective stories. Both had questions that couldn’t be left unanswered.
It’s not only in fictional stories that men rise up from their predecessors to selflessly defy governing control in order to seek wisdom and end up having to fight for their lives as Neo did. Socrates is a fine example of how a strong puppeteering government can fear one man for speaking out on injustices of the people just by simply asking questions. Socrates never stopped asking why, which was trouble for a system who enforces laws that are intended to keep people obedient with ignorance and fear. “I was really too honest a man to be a politician and live.” His mind, voice and ability to gain listeners ultimately led to his death when was charged with “corrupting the youth of Athens” and “impiety“, found guilty and sentenced to death.
The story of the Matrix is not a one to be taken lightly. Messages in art such as itself are meant to send messages, to open our eyes to the world around us using the power of perspective through story telling. “Artists use lies to tell the truth, while politicians use them to cover the truth up”, as said by a character in the Wachowski brothers movie “V for Vendetta”. And perhaps the purpose of the Matrix, using suggestive persuasion, was to make us all feel like we could be the one if we let ourselves believe we were capable of seeing passed the choices already set in front of us. In a way, everyone who has dared to ask questions and seek ultimate truth are not only philosophers themselves, but can be someone destined to shape the world just as great philosophers and the Wachowski brother have. But as the movie projects, it’s not easy to break down the reality you’ve known your entire life- it is not for the faint of heart. Sigmund Freud once said “I became aware of my destiny: to belong to the critical minority as opposed to the unquestioning majority.” The complexity and deeply embedded undertones of philosophical influence in The Matrix is one only fully appreciated when the viewer understands the complexities of his or her own matrix and gains an understanding of the world using history and philosophy as his/her guide.
The movie “The Matrix,” directed by Lawrence and Andrew Wachowski is a philosophical period piece still relevant since it’s release in 1999. It is a movie based on their depiction of our industrious and rapidly evolving age, with the intentions of breaking down the audiences general perception of the present world and its direct result on us generally as well as individually, by cramming as many philosophical connotations as they could in the entire series and time lining them into 3, 2 hour movies that took the Wachowski brothers 10 years to create. The Wachowski brothers have a very collected and firm theory that they express in their films. Their theory, in it’s most fundamental form is: reality is unimaginably nowhere close to what you think it is, and you do not have as much control over your life as you may believe you do. The Wachowski brothers made that point very clear in “The Matrix” by using the ageless art of storytelling with the most modern technology of the time to illustrate some of histories best and most relevant philosophies, expressing their own understandings of these philosophies and how they apply to us today.
Real World
In the scene after Neo recovers from waking up in the real world, Morpheus and Neo travel to the loading program where Morpheus goes into further detail about the matrix. He sets Neo up to be able to grasp foreign concepts that he otherwise might not have been able to understand by asking “what is real?” This is a question that has been asked by many philosophers, particularly whose subject of interest was metaphysics. Included in that is Immanuel Kant, a German born philosopher from the 18th century. Kant came to the conclusion that no one really knows what reality is in and of itself because the structures of the mind creates what you see based on what has already been. Jean Baudrillard, a French philosopher from the 20th century takes that theory a step further to say that reality, if there was ever one, has disappeared. In fact, when Morpheus shows Neo what the real world looks like, he calls it “the desert of the real.” That is a reference to Baudrillard’s “Simulacra and Simulations” where he states “The territory no longer precedes the map, nor survives it. Henceforth, it is the map that precedes the territory - precession of simulacra - it is the map that engenders the territory and if we were to revive the fable today, it would be the territory whose shreds are slowly rotting across the map. It is the real, and not the map, whose vestiges subsist here and there, in the deserts which are no longer those of the Empire, but our own. The desert of the real itself.” He goes on to write “Perhaps only the allegory of the Empire remains. For it is with the same imperialism that present-day simulators try to make the real, all the real, coincide with their simulation models”. Which is a strong basis throughout “The Matrix”.
Red Dress
In “the woman in the red dress” scene, they are in a simulation program where Morpheus explains to Neo that it’s not only the system who is the evil, but the people who are inside the system are enemies as a direct result of the comfortable system put in place for them. Karl Marx, a German philosopher from the 19th century strongly believed that there were systems put in place to keep lower classes quiet, humble and content. He’s expressed this by saying things such as “Religion is the opium of people” and “The death of dogma is the birth of reality.” A philosopher in his own right, Julius Caeser has been quoted stating “Beware the leader who bangs the drums of war in order to whip the citizenry into a patriotic fervor, for patriotism is indeed a double-edged sword. It both emboldens the blood, just as it narrows the mind. And when the drums of war have reached a fever pitch and the blood boils with hate and the mind has closed, the leader will have no need in seizing the rights of the citizenry. Rather, the citizenry, infused with fear and blinded by patriotism, will offer up all of their rights unto the leader and gladly so. How do I know? For this is what I have done. And I am Caesar.” The philosophy relating to both the scene from The Matrix and Caeser’s quote is that humans gain a sense of comfortability when coddled in the bosom of their government who offers protection, security and direction. When you are handed these things, just as a father has a responsibility to provide his family these things, you would not only be obligated to offer your love or allegiance, but you would willingly fight against anything contrary to what your overseer has instilled into you because it is your protector, your stability, your reality. Russian writer of War and Peace Leo Tolstoy has said “The time is fast approaching when to call a man a patriot will be the deepest insult you can offer him. Patriotism now means advocating plunder in the interest of the privileged classes of the particular State system in which we have happened to be born."
Benjamin Franklin, a philosopher among other things and a great contributor to the creation of America had much to say on the subject of control by comfort. “They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither safety nor liberty”. Quotes like these from years before our own exemplify that the Wachowski brothers followed in the path of free thinkers throughout history, learning from them, and modernizing it for a recent audience to grasp.
The Matrix was not the first work of art to portray reality and the consciousness of mind as two separate entities. Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave” is a metaphor for the contrast of realities just as The Matrix is. “Allegory of the Cave” asks the question, if an individual were chained to a certain way of life based on previous pretenses, and were suddenly unchained to be exposed to real truth, would that individual run towards the light seeking further enlightenment no matter how hard the truth hurts? Or would he/she run back into the darkness as it’s been all he/she knows up to that point? “Following the white rabbit” and “falling down the rabbit hole” are both references from Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland used in The Matrix exemplifying similar notions. Both Neo and Alice followed the metaphorical white rabbit to fall down the rabbit hole of wisdom and chaos. Both Neo and Alice were faced with dangers when fighting against the order and control of their respective stories. Both had questions that couldn’t be left unanswered.
It’s not only in fictional stories that men rise up from their predecessors to selflessly defy governing control in order to seek wisdom and end up having to fight for their lives as Neo did. Socrates is a fine example of how a strong puppeteering government can fear one man for speaking out on injustices of the people just by simply asking questions. Socrates never stopped asking why, which was trouble for a system who enforces laws that are intended to keep people obedient with ignorance and fear. “I was really too honest a man to be a politician and live.” His mind, voice and ability to gain listeners ultimately led to his death when was charged with “corrupting the youth of Athens” and “impiety“, found guilty and sentenced to death.
The story of the Matrix is not a one to be taken lightly. Messages in art such as itself are meant to send messages, to open our eyes to the world around us using the power of perspective through story telling. “Artists use lies to tell the truth, while politicians use them to cover the truth up”, as said by a character in the Wachowski brothers movie “V for Vendetta”. And perhaps the purpose of the Matrix, using suggestive persuasion, was to make us all feel like we could be the one if we let ourselves believe we were capable of seeing passed the choices already set in front of us. In a way, everyone who has dared to ask questions and seek ultimate truth are not only philosophers themselves, but can be someone destined to shape the world just as great philosophers and the Wachowski brother have. But as the movie projects, it’s not easy to break down the reality you’ve known your entire life- it is not for the faint of heart. Sigmund Freud once said “I became aware of my destiny: to belong to the critical minority as opposed to the unquestioning majority.” The complexity and deeply embedded undertones of philosophical influence in The Matrix is one only fully appreciated when the viewer understands the complexities of his or her own matrix and gains an understanding of the world using history and philosophy as his/her guide.